Meet our intern: Chris Mangion

Kia ora my name is Christopher Mangion I am an Intern Counsellor in my third year studying towards a Counselling degree at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute.
As part of my study program I have taken up an internship with Mind Health (a professional counselling agency) and C3 Church who is partnering with Mind Health to provide 100 hours of free counselling over 2023. These counselling sessions will take place at C3 Church, 117 Spey Street Invercargill.

Counselling is a supportive relationship Where two people come together to focus on and explore personal life issues, sometimes during times of crisis. My role is to provide support to explore, understand, resolve or come to terms with issues in a way that works for you.

What to expect:

Each counselling session is up to one hour in length. Sessions will be held at C3 Church 117 Spey Street Invercargill or via an online video call, depending on what is happening with the Covid-19 response. At the first session, the counsellor will discuss confidentiality, record keeping, your rights and the process to make a complaint, as well as the reason you’ve come for counselling. There are limits to confidentiality where there are serious concerns for your safety or the safety of someone else. Our intern will be under supervision from an experienced professional counsellor and some aspects will be shared without disclosing your name. The intern may ask to record one or more sessions for their assessment by their tutor. This will be agreed in advance on an individual basis and is not a requirement.

C3 Church & Mind Health:

Here at C3 Church, we know that there is real value in being able to talk in a confidential environment about the stressors and concerns that affect our lives. This year we are partnering with Mind Health to have a student counsellor available for people in our Church and Southland community.

How to access counselling at C3 Invercargill:

The first step is to email us at amen@c3invercargill.org.nz and Ps Shiree Ross from C3 Church will contact you about whether meeting with our intern is the right thing for you and will set up an initial session.

Counselling sessions are available on Monday and Tuesday mornings, through to November.